With
reference to the Statement made by this Permanent Mission at the 25th
Session of the Human Rights Council on March 26, 2014, the Holy See reiterates
its closeness and solidarity to all the people of Ukraine, whose country
continues to be affected by the present conflict.

With this intervention, the Holy See intends
to stress once again the urgent need to respect international legality
regarding Ukraine’s territory and borders, as a key element for ensuring
stability at both the national and the regional level, and to re-establish law
and order based on full respect for all fundamental human rights.

In this regard, the Holy
See welcomes the steps taken to enforce the ceasefire, which is intended as an
essential condition to arrive at political solutions exclusively through
dialogue and negotiation. At the same time, it emphasizes the crucial need for
all parties to implement the decisions taken by common agreement, acknowledging
in this context the efforts made by the UN, the OSCE and other relevant organizations
with reference to the Package of Measures for the
Implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

The
Holy See holds that the full adherence of all parties to the provisions of said
Agreements is a prerequisite for all further efforts to improve the humanitarian
and human rights situation in the affected territories, by, first of all,
bringing an end to the loss of human life, acts of violence and other forms of
abuse. It should also include the release of all hostages and illegally held
persons and ensure unfettered access by all legitimate actors to provide
humanitarian assistance in those areas.

At
the same time the Holy See is concerned about the social emergency facing the population living in the areas affected, who suffer from poverty,
hunger, insecurity and health risks. It is also concerned about injured and displaced
persons and families suffering from the loss of loved ones. In this urgent
situation, the Holy See is committed to offering its assistance through its
institutions and requests the charitable organisations of the Catholic Church
to intensify and coordinate their efforts to provide assistance to the people
of Ukraine. The Holy See also wishes to express its confidence in the solidarity
of the international community.

venerdì 20 marzo 2015

Permanent Observer
of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in
Geneva

at the 28th
Session of the Human Rights Council

Item 4 - Report of
the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

Geneva, 17 March
2015

Mr. President,

Conflicts forced a staggering 5.5 million people to flee
their homes in the first six months of 2014. This represents a major addition
to the record of 51.2 million worldwide who already were forcibly displaced by
the end of 2013.[1]
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
recently informed that, since the start of the crisis, “more than 10 million Syrians
have fled their homes. This amounts to almost half of the country’s population,
now deprived of their basic rights to shelter and adequate housing, security
and human dignity. Many are victims of human rights violations and abuses and
are in urgent need of protective measures and support.” To compound this
tragedy, more than 3 million people, most of them women and children, have fled
the Syrian Arab Republic and are refugees in neighboring countries.[2] Violence continues to produce victims in the
Middle East in particular, but elsewhere as well, where hatred and intolerance
are the criteria for inter-group relations.
The human rights of these forcibly displaced people are systematically
violated with impunity. A variety of sources have provided evidence on how
children suffer the brutal consequences of a persistent status of war in their
country. Children are recruited, trained and used in active combat roles, at
times even as human shields in military attacks. The so-called Islamic State
(ISIL) group has worsened the situation by training and using children as
suicide bombers; killing children who belong to different religious and
ethnic communities; selling children as slaves in markets; executing large
numbers of boys; and committing other atrocities.[3] In camps
throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of the
refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in times
of conflict and displacement. Their life in exile is full of uncertainty and
daily struggles. “Many are separated from their families, have difficulties
accessing basic services, and live in increasing poverty. Only one in two
Syrian refugee children in the neighboring countries is receiving education.”[4] Beyond
the specific conditions faced by internally displaced children and those in the
refugee camps of the region and beyond the enormous tragedies affecting them,
it seems important to envision their future, by focusing on three particular
areas of concern.

First, the world
must deal with the situation of millions of stateless children, who as such
according to the law, were never born. The United Nations estimates that
approximately 30.000 of these children can be found in Lebanon alone. Moreover,
due to the Middle Eastern conflicts and massive uprooting of families, several
thousand unregistered children are scattered in camps and other asylum
countries.[5] These
are “phantom kids” whose parents have escaped from Syria but whose name and
date of birth were never registered at any office. In fact, UNICEF reports that
3.500 children “officially” do not have a family or an identity. This occurs
because all personal documents have been destroyed under the rubble of war or,
at times, simply because their parents did not have the time or the money to certify
their birth. Stateless children cross international borders alone and find
themselves completely abandoned. The number of stateless persons in the world reaches
10 million. While all face grave difficulties, those fleeing Syria face challenges
that are even more dramatic: a child below eleven years of age and without
documents has no access even to the most basic services. These children
obviously cannot go to school and they are likely to be adopted illegally,
recruited in an armed group, abused, exploited, or forced into prostitution.
Every child has the right to be registered at birth and thus to be recognized
as a person before the law. The implementation of this right opens the way for
access to the enjoyment of other rights and benefits that affect the future of
these children. Simplifying mechanisms and requirements for registration,
waving fees, advocating for refugee inclusive registration legislation, represent
steps to solve the plight of stateless children.

Second, another key
component that shapes the future of uprooted children is education. Both in
Syria and in refugee camps in the region, provision of education has become
extremely problematic. Some 5,000 schools have been destroyed in Syria[6] where
more than one million and half students no longer receive an education and
where attacks against school buildings continue. The extremists from ISIL
already have closed a great number of schools in the zones under their control.
The dangerous condition of the country does not permit children to attend
school nor to have access to a proper education. The international community as
a whole seems to have misjudged the extent of the Syrian crisis. It was thought
by many that the Syrian refugee flow was temporary and such refugees would
leave their countries of asylum in a matter of months. Now, after four years of
conflict, it appears likely that these refugees will remain and the locals have
to learn to live side by side with them. As a result of the conflict, children
are behind in their education and are missing the enjoyment of their childhood.
In the camps, there are only 40 teachers for more than 1.000 students, aged 6
to 17. Most of the teachers are volunteers, and often refugees themselves.
Classes focus on drawing and music to help ease the trauma; writing and
mathematics are taught when books are available. In Turkey, children face additional
problems because of the language barrier. These refugees speak Arabic or
Kurdish so, they cannot attend public schools where only Turkish is spoken. For
different reasons, whether in their home countries or in the refugee camps,
children find an inadequate education system that jeopardizes their future.
Everywhere there is an urgent need for an education system that could absorb
these children and bring some normalcy to their lives.

Third, another
disruptive consequence of the continuing violence that torments the Middle East
is the separation of family members, which forces many minors to fend for
themselves. The root of the destabilization of society is the generalized
violence that leads to the breaking down of the family, society’s basic social
unit. To prevent the further exploitation of children and to protect them
properly, an additional effort should be made to facilitate the reunification
of minors with their respective families.

Mr. President,

The right to a legal
identity, to an adequate education and to a family are key elements and
specific requirements in a comprehensive system of protection for children. Such
measures require the close collaboration of all stakeholders. Access to quality
education and psycho-social care, together with other basic services, is
extremely important. However, children cannot benefit from such services unless
they are registered at birth and their families and communities are supported
to protect them better. If the violence does not stop and the normal pace of
education and development is not
resumed, these children are at risk of becoming a lost generation.

Peace in Syria and the Middle East is
the priority for healthy growth of all children. With conviction, during his
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Francis stated: “May the violence cease and
may humanitarian law be respected, thus ensuring much needed assistance to
those who are suffering! May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues
by the use of arms and return to negotiations. A solution will only be found
through dialogue and restraint, through compassion for those who suffer,
through the search for a political solution and through a sense of fraternal
responsibility.”[7]

As an act of solidarity with those Christians and persons from other communities suffering from grave and continuous violations of their human rights, a core group composed of the Russian Federation, Holy See and Lebanon, has formulated a Joint Statement entitled “Supporting the Human Rights of Christians and other Communities, particularly in the Middle East.” While highlighting the perilous situation that Christians face in that region, the statement clearly recognizes the abuses that are suffered by persons from any religious, ethnic and cultural background simply because they want to exercise their freedom of religion and belief without being persecuted or killed.
The declaration has been formally accepted and signed by a wide number of States which manifests a positive political will to support human rights and to move toward an elimination of these violations.
The statement will be presented on Friday, March 13, during the assembly of the 28th Session of the Human Rights Council in the Palais des Nations, Geneva.

Joint Statement

Supporting the Human Rights of Christians and Other Communities,

particularly in the Middle East

28th Session of the Human Rights Council Geneva, 13 March 2015 Sponsors: Russian Federation, Lebanon and the Holy See.

The Middle East is living in a situation of instability and conflict that recently have been aggravated. The consequences are disastrous for the entire population of the region. The existence of many religious communities is seriously threatened. Christians are now especially affected. These days even their survival is in question.
Efforts to build a better future for all are frustrated. We witness a situation where violence, religious and ethnic hatred, fundamentalist radicalism, extremism, intolerance, exclusion, destruction of the social fabric of whole societies and communities are becoming the features of a non-viable political and social model, endangering the very existence of many communities, the Christian community in particular.
Millions of people have been either displaced or forced to leave their ancestral lands. Those who stay in conflict zones or areas controlled by terrorist groups live under the permanent threat of human rights violations, repression and abuses. Both communities and individuals fall victim to barbaric acts of violence: they are deprived of homes, driven from their native lands, sold into slavery, killed, beheaded and burnt alive. Dozens of Christian churches, and ancient shrines of all religions have been destroyed. The situation of Christians in the Middle East, a land on which they are living for centuries and have the right to remain, raises deep concerns. There are more and more reasons to fear seriously for the future of the Christian communities that have more than two thousand years of existence in this region, where Christianity has its full place, and began its long history. The positive contributions of Christians in the different countries and societies of the Middle East are well known and creative.
We are confident that Governments, all civic and religious leaders in the Middle East, will join us in addressing this alarming situation by building together a culture of peaceful coexistence. In our globalized world, pluralism is an enrichment. The presence and the contributions of ethnic and religious communities reflect an ancient diversity and a common heritage. A future without the different communities in the Middle East will run a high risk of new forms of violence, exclusion, and the absence of peace and development.
We call upon the international community to support the deeply rooted historical presence of all ethnic and religious communities in the Middle East. Here world religions appeared, including Christianity. Now, they live a serious existential threat from the so-called “Islamic State” (Daesh) and Alqaida, and affiliated terrorist groups, which disrupts the life of all these communities, and creates the risk of complete disappearance for the Christians. This support will help the countries of the region to rebuild healthy plural societies and sound political systems, ensuring human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. Therefore we ask all States to reaffirm their commitment to respect the rights of everyone, in particular the right to freedom of religion, which is enshrined in the fundamental international human rights instruments.

Item 3 – Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

Geneva, 10 March 2015

Mr. President,

The International Community is now confronted with a
delicate, complex and urgent challenge with regard to respect for religious sensibilities and the
need for peaceful coexistence in an ever more pluralistic world: namely, that of establishing a fair
relationship between freedom of expression and freedom of religion. The
relationship between these fundamental human rights has proven difficult to
manage and to address on either a normative or institutional level. On the
other hand, it should be recognized “that the open, constructive and respectful
debate of ideas, as well as interfaith and intercultural dialogue at the local,
national and international levels, can play a positive role in combating
religious hatred, incitement and violence.”[1]
Failure in this effort is evident when excessive
and irresponsible use of freedom of expression result in intimidation,
threats and verbal abuse and these infringe upon freedom of religion and can sadly lead to intolerance and
violence. Likewise, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion has focused
on the violence committed “in the name of religion”,[2] and on
its root causes.

Unfortunately, violence abounds today. If genocide means
any act committed with the intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,
as such,[3]
then the International Community as a whole is certainly witnessing a sort
of genocide in some regions of the
world, where the enslavement and sale of women and children, the killing of
young men, the burning, beheading and the forcing into exile of people continue. In this context, the Delegation of
the Holy See would like to submit to the joint reflection of the Human Rights
Council that these and other unspeakable crimes are being committed against
people belonging to ancient communities simply because their belief, social
system and culture are different from the fundamentalist combatants of the so-called
“Islamic State” group. The appeal to religion in order to murder
people and destroy the evidence of human creativity developed in the course of
history makes the on-going atrocities even more revulsive and damnable. An adequate response from the International Community, that should finally put aside sectoral interests and save lives, is a moral imperative.

Violence, however, does not stem
from religion but from its false interpretation or its transformation into
ideology. In addition, the same violence can derive from the idolatry of State
or of the economy, and it can be an effect of secularization. All these
phenomena tend to eliminate individual freedom and responsibility towards
others. But, violence is always an individual’s act and a
decision that implies personal responsibility. It is in fact by adopting an
ethics of responsibility that the way toward the future can become fruitful,
prevent violence and break the impasse between extreme positions, one which
upholds any form of freedom of expression and the other which rejects any criticism
of a religion. The risk of a double standard in the protection of human rights is never too far away. Some
limits to freedom of expression are selectively imposed by law and accepted; meanwhile, systematic, provocative and verbally violent attacks on religion which
hurt the personal identity of believers are endorsed.[4]
Freedom of expression that is misused
to wound the dignity of persons by offending their deepest convictions sows the
seeds of violence. Of course, freedom of expression is a fundamental human
right which is always to be upheld
and protected; in fact, it also implies the obligation to say in a
responsible way what a person thinks in
view of the common good. Without this right, education, democracy, authentic spirituality would not be possible. It
does not, however, justify relegating religion to a subculture of insignificant
weight or to an acceptable easy target of ridicule and discrimination.
Antireligious arguments even in the form of irony can surely be accepted, as it
is acceptable to use irony about secularism or atheism. Criticism of religious
thinking can even help dismantle various extremisms. But what can justify gratuitous insults and spiteful derision of
the religious feelings and convictions of others who are, after all, equal in
dignity? Can we make fun of the cultural identity of a person, of the colour of
his skin, of the belief of his heart? A “right to offend” does not exist.
Criticism can produce good results if it takes into account that persons are
more important than their
convictions or their belief and that they have, simply because they are human beings, an innate right to be respected.

The lack of an ethics of
responsibility and fairness leads to the radicalization of positions when
instead dialogue and mutual understanding are necessary to break the vicious
circle of violence. The Constitution of the UNESCO reminds us that “since wars begin in
the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”[5]

Several mutually interdependent issues like freedom of
religion, freedom of expression, religious intolerance, violence in the name of religion, come together in
the concrete situations the world faces today. The way forward seems to be the adoption of a comprehensive
approach that would consider these issues together in domestic legislation and
deal with them in such a way that they may facilitate a peaceful coexistence
based on the respect of the inherent human dignity and rights of every person.
While opting to be on the side
of freedom, the consequences of its exercise cannot be ignored and they should
respect this dignity and, thus, build a more humane and more
brotherly global society.

at the 28th Session
of the Human Rights Council – Item 3 – Human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of
a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment

Geneva,
9 March 2015

Mr. President,

As
the Holy See stated during the UN Climate Summit, the enjoyment of a
sustainable environment is an issue of justice, respect and equity. Environmental degradation can and does adversely
affect the “enjoyment of a broad range of human rights.”[1] The
Human Rights Council itself has stated, “environmental damage can have negative
implications, both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human
rights.”[2]These situations must be approached from the perspective of the
principle common and distributive justice. Contributive justice in the sense
that all shall contribute according to their financial and technological
possibilities; distributive justice, in order to provide to each country the
know-how as well as the possibility to develop, to produce goods and to deliver
services. Reparative justice implies that those who have benefited more from the
use of natural resources, and having thus damaged the environment more, have a
special duty to work for its restoration and care.

Human rights obligations and commitments have the potential to inform
and strengthen international, regional and national policymaking in the area of
environmental protection and urges States “to take human rights into
consideration when developing their environmental policies”
(resolution 16/11). This Council, as well as the parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, has stated that States should,
in all climate change-related actions, fully respect human rights[3].

The human
rights obligations relating to the environment also include substantive
obligations to adopt legal and institutional frameworks that protect against
environmental damage that would interfere with the enjoyment of human rights,
including harm caused by private actors. As my Delegation has already stated in
the intervention on Transnational Corporations, we reiterate our call to
protect human rights from environmental harm. States have to strike a balance
between environmental protection and other legitimate societal interests. But
the balance should be reasonable and not result in unjustified and foreseeable
infringements of human rights.

In this
regard, the Holy See would like to express its appreciation for the good practice
of preparing “sustainability reports”, which describe the economic,
environmental and social impacts caused by companies’ everyday activities. The
comprehensive guidelines prepared by the Global Reporting Initiative
provide a framework for measuring and reporting
sustainability-related impact and performance, inclusive of indicators relating
to the protection of human rights and the environment[4].

It is a matter
of justice to help poor and vulnerable people who suffer from causes largely
not of their making and beyond their control. One concrete step would be to
make available to them the best in adaptation and mitigation technology. Now,
all eyes are focussed on the Twenty-first Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC
and the Eleventh Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which will take
place in Paris in December 2015. There, the poor and the rich will be winners
if we could reach an agreement on a post-2020 international regime, in which
all the nations of the world, including the biggest emitters of greenhouse
gases, bind themselves to a universal agreement on climate.

In conclusion, Mr. President,

As pope
Francis stated in different circumstances: “Even if ‘nature is at our
disposition’, all too often we do not ‘respect it or consider it a gracious
gift which we must care for and set at the service of our brothers and sisters,
including future generations’. Here too what is crucial is responsibility on
the part of all in pursuing, in a spirit of fraternity, policies respectful of
this earth which is our common home.” The responsibility to protect the environment, whether as a
developed or a developing country,
rests on the shoulders of us all. Taking into
consideration the good practices highlighted by the Special Rapporteur, we
should not avoid the urgent work that remains to be done for ensuring that future
generations might find a world that will allow them to lead prosperous lives.

The Holy See is encouraged by the growing efforts to
address global climate change initiated by a variety of Stakeholders.

There is increased evidence that the poorest people in
the more vulnerable countries will bear most of the burden of adapting to
climate change consequences which they had almost no role in creating[1].
As we look toward the 2015 United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Paris, we are offered a significant opportunity to make
two ethical decisions. Firstly, the
nations of the world need to commit themselves to curbing carbon emissions at a
minimum level to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate
system; and secondly, the nations of the world must sufficiently fund
adaptation measures needed by vulnerable nations and peoples to withstand the
impacts of climate change. Our concern
for the common good of the planet, and for humanity, urges us to recognize our
sense of interdependence with both nature and one another. No one is exempt from either the impacts of
climate change or our moral responsibility to act in solidarity with one
another to address this global concern.

We believe that such decisions will demonstrate
humankind’s commitment to showing respect for the environment, for those who
suffer the most, and for the sake of present and future generations. While science continues to research the full
implications of climate change, the virtue of prudence calls us to take the
responsibility to act to reduce the potential damages, particularly for those
individuals who live in poverty, for those who live in very vulnerable climate
impact areas, and for future generations.
As Pope Francis underlined, “The effective struggle against global
warming will only be possible with a responsible collective answer, that goes
beyond particular interests and behavior and is developed free of political and
economic pressures … On climate change, there is a clear,
definitive and ineluctable ethical imperative to act … The
establishment of an international climate change treaty is a grave
ethical and moral responsibility.”[2]

Mr. President,

Solidarity with the most vulnerable nations and
peoples that are experiencing the impact of climate change in a more prominent
and immediate way impels us to contribute to improving their situation and
defending their right to development. Poverty and climate change are now
intimately linked. Strategies to address
the first need to take into account the latter and vice-versa.

In fact, poor people living in developing countries
are particularly vulnerable given their disproportionate dependency on
climate-sensitive resources for their food and livelihoods[3].
The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has documented how extreme climate
events are increasingly threatening livelihoods and food security. Indeed, an estimated 600 million people will
face malnutrition due to climate change, with increasing malnutrition rates in
South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in particular.[4]

Moreover, the proliferation of
floods and storms and the rising of the sea level are showing some of the
effects that climate change will have also on the human right to adequate
housing. The erosion of livelihoods, partly caused by climate change, is a main
“push” factor for increasing
rural to urban migration. Many will move to urban slums and informal
settlements where they will be forced to build shelters in hazardous areas.[5]
Already today, an estimated one billion people live in urban slums, on fragile
hillsides or flood-prone river banks, which are acutely vulnerable to extreme
climate events.

As we continue to
search for viable solutions, we know that the path to a more just and
sustainable future is complex and often uncertain. In our collective work to
address global climate change, the Holy See is committed to working with all
people of good will and it pledges its support for efforts that advance the
common good, respect for human dignity and a special care for the most
vulnerable.

The Holy See hopes as well that the pledged contributions
to the Green Climate Fund will continue to increase so as to enable the most
vulnerable nations to mitigate, and adapt to, the effect of climate change more
effectively. Finally, the continuing and
deepening collaboration and engagement of civil society and the private sector
is a welcome sign. All of these measures
should improve the chances for meaningful and constructive steps to address
climate change at the forthcoming Paris Conference. The expected
new agreement should embody binding measures of responsibility and solidarity
for an effective action by the international community to address together the
threats resulting from climate change. Climate change is, in fact, an issue of
justice for everyone. The new instrument should rest on that justice, which
must guide our deliberations in the weeks to come. Both developed and
developing countries have a responsibility to protect: they constitute the one
human family of this earth with an equal mandate to manage and protect creation
in a responsible manner to ensure that also our future generations find a world
that allows them to flourish.

[1]As pointed out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “In
the Netherlands, people are investing in homes that can float on water. The
Swiss Alpine ski industry is investing in artificial snow-making machines,” but
“[i]n the Horn of Africa, ‘adaptation’ means that women and young girls walk
further to collect water.” In the Ganges and Mekong Deltas, “people are
erecting bamboo flood shelters on stilts” and “planting mangroves to protect
themselves against storm surges.”

[2]Message of Pope Francis to the President of COP 20 under the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

[3]IPCC AR4 WG II, p. 359. United Nations Millennium Project 2005, Halving
Hunger: It Can Be Done, Task Force on Hunger, p. 66. Furthermore, according to
the Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the right to food, “half of the
world’s hungry people … depend for their survival on lands which are inherently poor and which
may be becoming less fertile and less productive as a result of the impacts of
repeated droughts, climate change and unsustainable land use” (A/HRC/7/5, para.
51).

giovedì 5 marzo 2015

Permanent Observer of the Holy
See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva

at the 28th
Session of the Human Rights Council

-Item 1 - Biennial High-Level Panel on

“The Question of the Death
Penalty”

4 March 2015

Mr.
Chairman,

The Delegation of the Holy See is pleased to take part in this first
biennial high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty and joins
an increasing number of States in supporting the fifth UN General Assembly
resolution calling for a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Public opinion and support of the various provisions
aimed at abolishing the death penalty, or suspending its application, is
growing. This provides a strong momentum which this Delegation hopes will
encourage States still applying the death penalty to move in the direction of
its abolition.

The position of the Holy See on this issue has been more clearly
articulated in the past decades. In
fact, twenty years ago, the issue was framed within the proper ethical context of
defending the inviolable dignity of the human person and the role of the
legitimate authority to defend in a just manner the common good of society.[1] Considering the practical circumstances found
in most States, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the
penal system, it appears evident nowadays that means other than the death
penalty “… are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to
protect public order and the safety of persons.”[2]
For that reason, “public authority must
limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete
conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the
human person.”[3]

Political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number
of countries to eliminate the death penalty and to continue the substantive
progress made in conforming penal law both to the human dignity of prisoners
and the effective maintenance of public order are moving in the right direction.[4]

Pope Francis has further emphasized that the legislative and judicial
practice of the State authority must always be guided by the “primacy of human
life and the dignity of the human person.”
He noted as well “the possibility of judicial error and the use made by
totalitarian and dictatorial regimes… as a means of suppressing political
dissidence or of persecuting religious and cultural minorities.”[5]

Thus, respect for the dignity of every human person and the common good
are the two pillars on which the position of the Holy See has developed. These
principles converge with a similar development in international human rights
law and jurisprudence. Moreover, we should take into account that no clear
positive effect of deterrence results from the application of the death penalty
and that the irreversibility of this punishment does not allow for eventual
corrections in the case of wrongful convictions.

Mr. Chairman,

My Delegation contends that bloodless means of defending the common good
and upholding justice are possible, and calls on States to adapt their penal
system to demonstrate their adhesion to a more humane form of punishment. As for those countries that claim it is not
yet feasible to relinquish this practice, my Delegation encourages them to
strive to become capable of doing so.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the Holy See Delegation fully supports the
efforts to abolish the use of the death penalty. In order to arrive at this
desired goal, these steps need to be
taken: 1) to sustain the social reforms that would enable society to implement
the abolition of the death penalty; 2) to
improve prison conditions, to ensure respect for the human dignity of the
people deprived of their freedom.[6]